The present invention refers to a breast prosthesis advantages not necessarily for use in a top part of a bathing suit, and in particular to a breast prosthesis of the type including a cup-shaped prosthetic body of soft plastic material with a rear side which faces a wearer's body and defines a cavity, and at least one stiffening rib radially extending from the surface of the cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,442 discloses a breast prosthesis having a plastic prosthetic body of circular base area and three stiffening ribs which radially project from the rear side of the prosthetic body at an equal angular distance of 120.degree.. The stiffening ribs extend from the outer perimeter of the prosthetic body and terminate at a radial distance before the center of the cavity which thus forms a single chamber. Each stiffening rib has a straight back side which projects beyond the ring-shaped rim surface formed between the cavity and the front side of the prosthetic body. The use of such a prosthesis in the top part of a bathing suit or a bikini becomes inconvenient for the wearer because water which accumulates in the cavity during swimming cannot be drained quickly enough from the cavity as the radial inner ends of the stiffening ribs form a bottle neck which interfere with a drainage of water. Moreover, the gaps between the ring-shaped rim surface and the wearer's body in the area of the backsides of the stiffening ribs bearing upon the wearer's body are too small to permit a rapid drainage of water from the cavity. Also, only those gaps formed in the lower area during wearing of the prosthesis are effective for draining water which flows out of the cavity through gravity. Since the backside of each stiffening rib projects beyond the rim surface of the prosthetic body, the rim surface extends almost about its entire circumference at a distance from the wearer's body. For esthetic reasons, this is undesired because the rim surface should tightly bear in particular in the upper area of the breast prosthesis upon the wearer's body.